User blog:Yeonchi/Some inspirational words from Fábio Yabu's Instagram
I'm on break right now (again) to focus on some personal things, but also because the Mr Bean and Friends YouTube channel is taking a break from uploading Sea Princesses episodes until he decides to start on Series 2, which should hopefully be in the next month or two if my calculations are right. In the meantime, I found this post on Fábio Yabu's Instagram which he posted this year for #Mermay, one of those themed months where the theme happens to be on mermaids in May. After reading (and translating) his inspirational story on his post, I thought I would share it with you for a little bit of filler to bide through this break (I hope he doesn't mind me posting this here). : I don't know if this is worth the hashtag #Mermay, but here is a drawing I did that changed my life. After making many different versions of an aquatic character for a client, I got fed up with all the rejections and redos and I thought, "You know what? I'll do anything, like a girl with an octopus on her head!" Fortunately, the client did not like it. The rest is history, told in more than 50 countries. : Today, a decade and a half later, I realised that the client was right. Until some time ago, I thought there was something special about this sketch; there wasn't really anything special about it, just like there's nothing special about it at all. Polvina was just that - a sketch - not a divine gift, a gift from the ninjas. : What was special about her was the years refining the trait, relearning how to draw and how to write. The years swimming against the current of my own ignorance. The countless and endless meetings, the spreadsheets, the hundreds of script pages and the thousands of animations by dozens of animators in Australia and Spain. : I had the years of life I gave, even the years that were stolen by someone I trusted, and all that's left after that was for me to start over. But that's a story for another day. For now, keep this reminder and tip: when someone says that your design, your road map, your business idea is bad, chances are that you're right. No one is obliged to believe in your idea except you, and it is your duty to defy reality each day, to battle and bleed through each of your own Infinity Stones until you realise your vision. It's going to take years, but the world needs it, and you deserve it. '' 32095316_135379437321497_4848903337132687360_n.jpg 32307818_1733841736705687_9183694755312173056_n.jpg 31412189_1521589707952193_1217764704638730240_n.jpg ''The three pictures above show Polvina's "prototype" design (presumably the one he showed to the client), book design and cartoon design. There were two more pictures in the photoset, but I didn't think they were relevant or interesting, so Mr Yabu, if you see this, then I'm sorry for leaving those out. It's pretty amazing to see an author reminisce about a work that he did ten years ago, even when the lack of localisation and merchandising in other countries led Sea Princesses to be lost and forgotten for a time (mostly in Australia), or even other countries (mostly in Asia) not knowing about this amazing cartoon. This is just my opinion, of course, but I'm glad to be reminded that this childhood memory hasn't been forgotten. Once again, Mr Yabu, thank you for giving us this amazing series and we hope to someday hear stories about your work on it. Category:Blog posts